Inuyasha's daughter
by Nobody is Somebody
Summary: Kagome hasn't told her daughter anything about Inuyasha. But when Kagome goes to talk to Inuyasha, Ayumi runs away to explore where her father came from and finds herself in Feudal Japan, but what will she want to go home after seeing her father? r and r
1. Father?

Sorry, this is my first story so the chapter isn't that great, but I promise it will get better.

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"Mom! You missed Parents' Day again! You promised!" Ayumi cried out when she got home.

"I am so sorry dear, I got called away to the office and I couldn't get away." Kagome said as she thought she should probably tell Ayumi about Feudal Japan and about her father as well.

"Mom, this is the seventh time you forgot! Just tell me you'll, at least, come to teacher conferences with me on Saturday. Okay?" Ayumi asked as she looked into a nearly empty cupboard and found some noodles to cook. Her mother never really was good at cooking.

"Don't worry dear, I promise," Kagome called as she saw Inuyasha in the widow. She made signs for him to go away and tried to make an excuse to go see him without giving Ayumi the idea she was going to talk to him.

"You won't forget, right Mom?" Ayumi asked looking her mother in the eyes.

"I won't," Kagome said. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go pick up some groceries. Don't wait up to eat, I'll be right back." Kagome snuck outside as her thirteen year old daughter went into the living room.

"Few, at least she didn't catch Inuyasha," Kagome told herself. She walked down the steps of her home and over to the well. Inuyasha was waiting for her.

"So?" Inuyasha asked.

"I don't think she's ready."

"Kagome, you know she is."

"But I just can't tell her that her father is a half-demon. She'll think I went mad."

"What if I told her?"

"What are you mad? She'll freak out because there's a stranger in the house!"

"Then what are we going to do? I heard your conversation with her. How you were 'called away to the office.'"

"So?"

"So you need to stop lying to our daughter!"

"She doesn't have to put her life in danger!"

"She needs to know who her father is!"

"She doesn't have to go to Feudal Japan with you!"

"She needs to know why you're gone all day!"

"No she doesn't!"

"Kagome!"

"Inuyasha!"

They both growled and looked away from each other. Little did either of them know that Ayumi was listening. She heard all of the things they had said and was thinking about all the things they had said.

"So a half-demon is my father, and my mom goes to Feudal Japan everyday. That means she was lying to me! And the man that Mom was talking to, he said 'our daughter,' that means he's my dad!" Ayumi whispered.

Inuyasha picked up the noise, but didn't say anything. It was about time that their child knew just who he was. He was done looking through the window to see his only child grow up without him. He will bring her to his era and nothing Kagome did could stop him. It was his child she was protecting from him and he was sick of it. Even if he knew the feudal area was no place to raise a child.

Ayumi looked down through a hole in the shrine wall and saw a man with gray hair, old, red clothes, and dog ears. She crammed her fist into her mouth so she wouldn't scream. "This is who my father was supposed to be! A dog-eared demon!" Ayumi whispered.

Kagome remembered she had told Ayumi before she left that she would be right back. "I got to go, I told Ayumi I was going to get groceries. I'll see you this weekend."

Inuyasha wasn't about to tell Kagome that Ayumi could hear everything and watched as Kagome ran off. Kagome was still forgetful after all these years. Once Kagome left, Inuyasha listened as Ayumi crawled out of her hiding spot and started to walk away. Inuyasha jumped into the well that sent him back into his own time where demons of all kinds roamed and savaged the lands. He met up with Miroku and Sango, but didn't say anything. They had learned to keep their mouths shut when he was in a bad mood.

Kagome ran to the store and bought a couple of things and then ran home, hoping her daughter wouldn't mind too much that she was late, again. When she arrived home she saw Ayumi still watching television and the water just about boiling. Ayumi turned and looked to see Kagome putting away some actual food other than noodles and Ayumi gave a little cheer. She was starting to get sick of them, no matter how she cooked them. Ayumi then remembered when Kagome and her demon-dad were talking earlier and her dad had just disappeared when she walked around into the shrine. She looked all around, but didn't see him anywhere. She figured since it was her mother's favorite spot to go, it figures there is something weird about it.

They ate supper in silence and Ayumi went straight to her room to study after dinner. She had three tests in one week and she had to study for them. She didn't remember when, but she fell asleep studying. Kagome walked in and saw her sleeping at her desk. She quietly closed the door and turned around.

It was so quiet in her home, she sighed and walked over to her bed. She was so tired from searching that she fell asleep when her head hit the pillow. She fell into a deep sleep in a matter of moments.

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So that was my first chapter. Read and Review, mostly review. Check out my second chapter too!


	2. Family History

This is my second chapter. Hope you like it.

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Ayumi had woken up when she heard her door closed. She listened as her mom quietly made her way down the hall and into the master bedroom where she slept. Ayumi wanted to look around the well some more, but knew she couldn't in the day. She opened her window quietly and climbed out. Her room was on the second floor, but she had fallen out of her window once and found that she could handle the impact. She didn't know why at the time, but she smiled when she thought about the demon. "Thanks Dad," she whispered as she sprinted off to the well. She still wanted to make it to her tests this week, but finding out just what lies her mom has been feeding her, needed to be solved.

She made it to the well and started looking at it. There weren't any weird symbols or anything. She sat on the edge and yawned. There wasn't anything here. She turned and looked down into the well, her elbows resting on the rough, cold stone. "If there is a way to disappear without leaving this place, the only way would be to hide in the well," she whispered. She suddenly sneezed and her echo resounded down the well. "There's only one way to figure it out," she told herself as she swallowed her fear down and jumped into the hole.

She bit her fist to keep from screaming because she really didn't want to wake the neighborhood. She fell into the well even farther and soon, she blacked out. She woke up to the sound nature and took awhile to figure out just where she was. She was still in the well and she started to climb out. After quite some time, she made it out. She dusted the dirt off of her and looked around. This wasn't the shrine. This was… she thought back to the conversation her mom had had, Feudal Japan. She looked around nervously and started walking toward the edge of the well. It really wasn't that deep, and it still looked like an ordinary well.

Ayumi looked around again. She was determined to figure out just who she was. A demon, like her dad, or a human, like her mom, then she wondered, was her mom really a human? Ayumi thought about it, there really wasn't anything to prove that she was a demon. So Ayumi just shrugged and pushed that thought back, of course her mom was human, how else would she be?

She saw some smoke and figured that to be a fire. Maybe a village was over there. She walked quietly over to where the smoke had come from, but before she could see the village, a loud blast exploded from behind her. She looked back and saw a boomerang thrown by a woman wearing black, skin tight outfit with red armor. She was riding a giant monster. Ayumi watched in amazement as the woman threw her boomerang at a giant centipede.

The centipede dodged the boomerang and then a monk wearing a bluish-back robe quickly unstrung the beads from his hand and open up a black vortex. The centipede roared as Ayumi grabbed a branch to hang on to so she wouldn't get pulled inside. She screamed as the branch broke and she was flying through the air. The monk quickly closed his hand and caught Ayumi.

The centipede was furious and started to lunge its mouth towards the monk. Ayumi looked up and screamed again when she saw it coming. Suddenly, her father jumped from a tree and pulled out a huge sword. He jumped on top of the giant centipede and shoved his skull straight into its head. He jumped off the monster when it started to fall and landed near the monk. He put his sword away and the monk set Ayumi down. Ayumi couldn't look at her father. She looked towards the ground, ready for punishment.

"What were you thinking?" Inuyasha yelled at her. "You could've been killed!"

"I'm sorry, but the branch broke and…" Ayumi tried to swallow down the lump that had formed in her throat.

"Inuyasha, give the poor kid a break would you!" the woman said as she walked over.

"Next time you come here, you stay with me got it?" Inuyasha told Ayumi.

"I'll go-" Ayumi suddenly realized that her father said 'next time.' Did he know that she had run away?

"Inuyasha, do you know her?" the monk asked.

"This is her, Miroku. I told you about her." Inuyasha answered.

"You mean," Miroku hesitated, "You mean _this_ is the girl you were talking about?"

"Wow, I can really see Kagome in her, but not you," Sango replied.

"You got a problem with that?" Inuyasha threatened.

Ayumi smiled at her father threatening the woman because she had made fun of him.

"Yeah, I think Sango is right. She really does look like Kagome, but not much of you." The monk, Miroku smiled.

Ayumi accidentally let a giggle slip and Inuyasha had heard. He turned to her smiling, but she immediately looked down, thinking she was still in trouble. Inuyasha went down on his knees to look at Ayumi in the face, she was a lot like Kagome, but she had his eyes. His brown eyes from when he was a human.

"What are you looking at?" Ayumi asked. She looked at his face as he studied hers. She noticed his eyes were golden (which was really weird to her).

"Just seeing if you really did look like your mother," Inuyasha said as he stood up. Inuyasha kept watching her as he stood, her eyes flashed golden in the sun.

"So?" Miroku asked.

"So what?" Inuyasha growled as his temper returned.

"So we need to get moving if we are to find Naraku." Miroku responded.

"Right, then let's get going." Inuyasha turned towards Ayumi and she bit her lower lip looking around. She would have to ride the monster thing, or walk.

Inuyasha suddenly picked her up and put her onto his back. "Just hang on tight and you'll be fine." He whispered as the monster thing took off and Inuyasha jumped into the air.

Ayumi held on to him tighter after she looked down from the dizzying heights of where she was at. Inuyasha must have noticed and he reached behind him and held her in place. Ayumi soon got used to his movements and was able to find her voice.

"Who is Naraku?" she asked.

"It's a long story, but we've got a long way to go. It all started when I was with another woman named Kikyo. Naraku had taken the form of me when he stole something very precious to her away. Then, she had shot an arrow at me and sealed me to a tree for fifty years. I started searching for Naraku once I had found out it was him, and with the help of you mother, we found him. We had fought him, but it didn't work. He escaped. We found him some more times and every time we fought, he grew stronger. One time he was able to shed his human heart and change into a form of a baby. We had taken out Naraku, but somehow that baby was able to remake Naraku's body. He found a way to revive Naraku after we had killed him. Now he's stronger than ever and he has half of the Shikon Jewel shards and he's using them to regain all of his power. We have most of the other half, but there is still some missing. He wants to use the full Shikon Jewel to make him into a full demon, so he can kill everything. It's been five years since we last saw Naraku, but we know he is out here somewhere."

When Inuyasha looked back, she saw that Ayumi was asleep on his back. Miroku saw Inuyasha smiling at Ayumi and looked at Sango who saw it too. They looked at each other for a while before they started laughing.

"Sango, I didn't ever picture that would happen." Miroku laughed.

"Neither did I!" Sango laughed harder.

"What are you to laughing at?" Inuyasha growled as he came up to them.

"Nothing!" Sango laughed. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed.

"You, a father, nice!" Miroku confessed through laughing harder.

"What's wrong with that?" Inuyasha asked reaching for his blade.

Before either of them could respond a scream was heard and Inuyasha picked up the scent of a demon. This one smelled of Naraku. They rushed over there and landed near a forest where the scream had come from. Inuyasha looked at Miroku then told Sango to watch out for Ayumi. He set her down on Kirara's back and ran into the forest. Miroku followed him and Sango jumped onto Kirara. She wasn't going to miss this fight, Kohaku might be there. He was still under Naraku's spell and Sango was determined to get her brother back. Ayumi shifted in her sleep and felt wind flying about her. She suddenly sat up and grabbed the nearest thing to her, Sango. Sango jumped at the surprise, but looked back to see Ayumi holding onto her tightly.

"Where are we?" Ayumi asked.

"Inuyasha smelled one of Naraku's demons. We're here to check it out." Sango answered. She looked down at the battle field, watching as Inuyasha and Miroku take on a ferocious, giant bird.

"I've got to go help them, you'll be safe on Kirara." Sango jumped off Kirara and land smoothly on the ground. She threw her boomerang at the bird and hit its wing, but the wing somehow reattached itself back on to the body.

"Okay," Ayumi said in a quivering voice as Kirara took off and she didn't have anything to hold on to. She fell forward and wrapped her arms around Kirara's neck. She watched as the bird breathed fire down on the spot her dad was. He jumped out of the way in time. The bird breathed fire again, but this time the bird missed Inuyasha completely.

Except it wasn't shooting at Inuyasha, it was shooting at her. Ayumi screamed and put up her arms in front of her face on instinct. She heard Inuyasha yell to her, but the flames engulfed her and Kirara. Ayumi closed her eyes from the pain.

Inuyasha jumped to go get her, but got pulled down by Miroku. Before he could tear Miroku to pieces he saw what Miroku was seeing. The flames had completely surrounded Ayumi for only a few seconds before it gathered into a ball in front of her and shot straight at the bird. The fire had nearly tripled in power as the flaming ball shot through the bird. The bird fell to the side with a hole going straight through its neck.

Kirara lowered herself to the ground and let the shaking Ayumi be picked up by her dad. She was crying and shaking while Inuyasha held her close. Soon, Ayumi fell asleep in his arms. He looked at Sango. It wasn't really her fault though, they really did need her help in the battle (although he won't admit it), but he had no one else to blame. He shifted Ayumi to his back and Sango and Miroku got onto Kirara. The sent that came off the bird before it was smoldered came from mountain flowers. He told Sango and Miroku, they both agreed they would search the mountains with him later. They were tired too and they needed their rest. Sango suggested a village nearby and they followed her directions.

The town was quiet, almost peaceful. Inuyasha didn't like it, but he didn't tell anyone else. They went into the inn and slept. Ayumi was the first to wake up. She opened her eyes and very quietly looked around. They were all sleeping in the same room on bed rolls. Except for Inuyasha who slept sitting. She quietly walked over to Inuyasha and leaned against him.

Inuyasha woke, but he didn't move seeing Ayumi falling back sleep while leaning on him. He smiled and closed his eyes. As he closed his eyes a sudden scream came from outside. Inuyasha was awake and alert. Ayumi was too. She grabbed Inuyasha's arm and Inuyasha looked at her, "You stay here. I don't want you getting hurt."

Ayumi nodded and moved away from her dad as he ran outside. She looked out the window and saw a guy hiding under what looked like a polar bear skin, but the face was different. Inuyasha called out his name, "Naraku," and ran to fight him. Naraku dodged his attacks easily and Inuyasha kept swinging. Ayumi watched as the blade missed every time by only an inch. Inuyasha swung his blade then moved with a surprise attack. It still missed.

Naraku talked calmly through all of this, "Inuyasha, why do you waste your energy so soon. And here I was hoping for a good challenge. Sango and Miroku were just watching like Ayumi, not sure what to do.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Inuyasha gasped between every swing.

Ayumi noticed how much her dad was tiring. She wanted to go help him, wanted him to win. She watched the blade miss and how her dad was tiring. When Inuyasha finally strike a blow, cutting off half of Naraku's arm, the arm started moving and Naraku grew a new one. The arm was moving to where Inuyasha couldn't see it. Ayumi started running out to the fight and grabbed at the arm. It turned its long, sharp nails at her, but she wouldn't let it hurt her dad.

It went to strike her, but she dropped it. She stomped on it, hard. She remembered the feeling of a brake when she accidentally broke a classmates arm when she was younger. She finally felt it crack. The arm became dead, but Naraku wasn't. He saw how she, a mere girl, had run out and saved Inuyasha. A mere girl destroyed his power, by just breaking the bone. Inuyasha was already no match for him, but Naraku could see the power in the girl. It was more than Inuyasha's already and it was still just awakening.

Inuyasha struck Naraku when he had just decided what he will do with the girl. Inuyasha was breathing heavily, but wasn't going to show it. He placed his sword back into its sheath and walked over to Ayumi. She was tired too, but the arm had dissolved into the ground and she didn't have to worry about it.

"I thought I told you to stay inside," Inuyasha remarked as he hid his heavy breathing.

"The arm you cut off, it came back to life. It was about to strike so I changed its target," Ayumi said through heavy breathing.

"It's true. I wouldn't have noticed the arm until Ayumi had run after it." Miroku ran over.

"Yeah, it truly was remarkable, such a little child taking on the arm. How did you destroy it?" Sango asked.

"Umm… well… I just broke the bone."

Ayumi smiled and let the adults talk as she pretended to understand. She heard something about the smell of mountain flowers. She seemed to be having a hard time standing up and blacked out while they were talking.

_"Who is she? Where did she come from? I want to know about that power I saw in her. Well?" asked Naraku._

_"She is Inuyasha's daughter. Her name is Ayumi. She stayed with Kagome while she grew," said a little girl._

_"How was she able to destroy my arm? She should only be one-fourth demon." Naraku demanded._

_"I do not know sir."_

"Ayumi? Ayumi! Are you okay?" Inuyasha hung on to her so she wouldn't fall again.

Ayumi was still groggy from her – was it just a dream? She finally realized all the people around her. Some of the villagers had even come to see what had happened. Inuyasha was holding her tightly and Sango and Miroku were looking on in concern.

"Ayumi? Are you hurt?" Inuyasha's voiced seemed deeply concerned. Somehow, she had heard that same voice from somewhere.

"No, I'm fine. Really." Ayumi stood up, but then suddenly sat back down because of all the blood rushing to her head.

"Are you sure?" Inuyasha asked.

"I'm sure, I just stood up too fast." Ayumi answered as she grabbed her swimming head.

Inuyasha looked deep into her eyes and saw them flash gold again. He made up his mind and thought Kagome was right, Ayumi isn't old enough to be in this era yet. He was going to take her home. He lifted her to his back and told the others he was taking her home. She fell asleep almost right away and didn't notice where she was being taken. She woke a few hours later on a bed roll in some sort of house. A really old lady walked up to her and was holding a towel.

Ayumi screamed at the scary, wrinkled, old face of a woman coming closer and closer. Inuyasha burst into the room and Ayumi ran to him.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yes dear, what's wrong? I was just going to put this towel on your head. You seemed to have a mild fever when you first arrived." The old lady asked.

"You –" Ayumi took a breath, "You scared me."

"Is that all? I wouldn't trust that old bat if I were you either." Inuyasha smiled.

"I heard that!" the old lady started coming closer. "Come here girl, before any of your father rubs off on you."

Ayumi giggled until she heard a voice that she feared the most.

"Inuyasha! If I don't see my daughter right this minute I swear I'm going to – " Kagome screamed as she tore through the building. " Ayumi you are in so much trouble when I get to you!"

Ayumi wanted to run, but knew she couldn't she could only wait and take the punishment from a fuming mother. She looked down at her shoes and just stood there. Kagome burst into the room, "Ayumi! Come here right now!" Ayumi listened and followed her mother's orders. Kagome grabbed her and looked at Inuyasha furiously. "How dare you bring her here! She could've been killed! She will not come here again and that is final!"

Kagome dragged Ayumi out of the building and to the well. Ayumi saw the well and realized just how much she liked it better here. She felt Kagome's hand on her back, but she didn't want to go home. Ayumi suddenly tore away from Kagome and ignored her orders to come back. She ran into the woods and didn't stop. She was crying, hating herself for disobeying, but she didn't want to leave just yet. She stopped running to catch her breath on a fallen tree and cried.

"Why a pretty lady like you shouldn't be crying," a man said.

Ayumi screamed looked around, a man wearing a lot of brown furs and some chest armor was standing right next her on the fallen tree. She saw he wasn't out to get her so she calmed down. "I just ran away so don't bug me!"

"Ran is a for sure thing! Do you know where you are?"

Ayumi shook her head.

"Well, from what I saw, you ran about forty miles in eight minutes."

Ayumi looked at the man to see that he was kidding, but he wasn't. His eyes were firm as if he had never seen anyone run that fast. She suddenly felt her face pale. "Forty miles!" Ayumi whispered.

"Around there, maybe a little more."

"A little more! How am I going to get home now?"

"Well, if you like, I could give you one. Of course, you'll have to tell me your name and where you're headed," the man told her.

"Why my name?" Ayumi asked.

"So I know who to flirt with."

Ayumi giggled and blushed, "My name is Ayumi, what's yours?"

"I'm Koga, the wolf-demon."

Suddenly another girl walks up and grabs Koga on the arm, "Don't you ever desert me like that! And who is she?"

"I'm Ayumi."

"Well Ayumi, I'm sorry to inform you that he is taken." The girl grabbed him by the arm and was about to walk away before Ayumi called her to wait.

"I don't know where I am, can you tell me? Koga says I ran forty miles, but I don't remember which way I came from."

"Forty miles? Do you have jewel shards in your legs?"

"No, but I would like to get back to my dad."

"Well who's your father then?"

"Inuyasha."

"That mutt is your father!" Koga cried. "I can't believe he has a daughter! Who's your mom?" Koga laughed.

"Kagome."

"That mutt and Kagome! I'm going to tear that mutt to pieces!"

"Shut up, Koga!" the woman yelled. "Inuyasha, he could be half way across the country by now. I'm sorry, but if you would like, you could stay at the den until Inuyasha comes."

"Thanks, I would like that," Ayumi smiled.

"Here grab my hand and I'll take you there."

Ayumi grabbed the woman's hand and suddenly they were racing through forests and over plains, Ayumi could barely tell how far they had traveled when she started to grow tired. The woman stopped for a brief moment, looking at the child that had fallen asleep. "Koga, I think you need to carry her." The woman looked at Koga who already had Ayumi in his arms. They started running again, only stopping once they got at the den.

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This is my second chapter of my first story. R and R plz!


	3. Koga's wolves

Props to:

Ellen Tee: Koga's mate is Ayame, a wolf-demon princess that had met Koga when she was a kid and Koga had saved her from eminent death. It only appears in the anime so it might be hard to understand, but when Koga saved Ayame, he promised when she was old enough, Ayame could marry him. And it's even more difficult to hate Inuyasha and love Kagome when they're lovers/married. They're /married because Inuyasha didn't want to go through a future marriage so they're mostly lovers. Koga likes Ayumi just has much as Kagome, because Ayumi looks just like Kagome, except for the eyes. And thanks for the compliments. Thanks to you (and I'm on vacation from school), here's the third chapter. Sorry it's kind of a cliffy though, but I'm working on the next on right now too. Wow, this is long. I'm going to shut up now and let you read.

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"Ayumi!" Kagome yelled for her lost child. "Ayumi! Come on out! I promise I won't take you back without saying goodbye to your father first! Ayumi!"

Inuyasha still couldn't believe Kagome's story how she was just taking her to the well then Ayumi took off. How could Kagome not catch her? According to Kagome, once Ayumi got to the woods she 'sped up faster than Koga' and couldn't be seen. Ayumi couldn't go faster than Koga. Could she? Koga had jewel shards in his legs, it would be impossible for a thirteen year old girl to catch up with jewel shards in the legs of a wolf demon, right? Inuyasha shook his head and called out, "Ayumi!"

Inuyasha couldn't even pick up her scent. It was like she disappeared out of thin air. Inuyasha shook his head again, the only skill that he had seen from her was the fireball one seven days ago. Other than that, Ayumi was human. Inuyasha listened to all the calls of Ayumi. Miroku and Sango were riding on Kirara looking for her on the forest floor. Kagome was holding onto his back as he jumped from place to place.

Inuyasha looked behind him at Kagome, she was asleep on her back. She had spent the whole night and day yesterday looking for Ayumi. Inuyasha smiled at the woman he fell in love with. He heard a scream suddenly and raced to it. He could have sworn it was Ayumi's scream and that he needed her. He moved faster and saw a line of wind and dirt that could only be Koga. The line had started from where Inuyasha had guessed Ayumi screamed at. He landed on the fallen log and sniffed the air. It was Ayumi, and the stench of the wolf-demon, Koga.

He closed his hands into fists and started after them. He could only see that they were moving in a straight line and every time he jumped closer, they became smaller. They disappeared against the horizon. Inuyasha didn't stop, he knew where they were going.

Kagome slowly woke up from her sleep on Inuyasha's back. She looked around, they weren't near Miroku or Sango. Where were they going? She turned to look in front of her and she only saw the night sky. Inuyasha had felt her move. "Koga has Ayumi, they're going to his den."

Kagome nodded and urged Inuyasha on without saying anything. She still felt terrible for how she over-reacted when Inuyasha had taken Ayumi. She wanted to apologize, but something always stopped her. She knew Inuyasha hadn't brought Ayumi into the feudal era, but she knew that he had wanted her to come. It was wrong for her to have kept Ayumi there, because she would have found out sooner or later. And it turned out to be sooner rather than later. Kagome just hoped that Ayumi would be alright with Koga. She should be unless he was still jealous of Inuyasha and her… Oh god, this can't be good.

Inuyasha needed to rest on the second day of just running. He fell asleep in a tree while Kagome, not knowing how he can stay in the tree, told him she would sleep on the ground. She fell asleep soon after that and only woke when she realized Inuyasha was picking her up. She kept her eyes closed as he put her on his back softly and started running again. Kagome fell asleep on his back a little after that.

Ayumi woke to find her face to face with a wolf, sleeping on a hay bed, with several wolves beside her. She didn't scream, though. She actually thought that it was a very nice gesture. She didn't know why they went attacking her, or avoiding her, or scared of her for that matter. They seemed to want to protect her. She sat up when she heard Koga storm through the caves asking where all of his wolves were. Several of the wolves looked toward the only opening in this part of the cave, others looked at Ayumi. Ayumi watched the surprised look as Koga burst in to the room and see every one of his wolves was just waking up in Ayumi's room.

"Well, I'll be," Koga looked into the face of every wolf and saw that each one wanted to stay with the girl.

"What?" Ayumi asked. "Didn't you ask these wolves to guard me or something?"

"Well no, I didn't, and they don't like a lot of newcomers either. Especially if it was that mutt, Inuyasha."

"Why do you call him a 'mutt?'"

"He's a half-demon, not a full demon like yours truly. That must make you one-fourth demon. I've never seen a quarter demon before and I sure haven't seen one run. Definitely not as fast as you were going."

Ayumi smiled at least, at least one trait she had inherited from her dad. She flashed back to when the fire bird had attacked her. Could her father do that too? She didn't want to think that she was some super-powered freak. She just shook her head, of course he did; all traits are inherited. You can't just get them from nowhere.

Koga walked over to her and sat next to her. "I have never seen my wolves take such a liking to anyone before. What did you do to them?"

"I didn't do anything, I just woke up and there they were."

"Well, I guess it just goes to show that my wolves like you. Maybe they want us to mate?" Koga moved closer to Ayumi. "You know, I never realized just how beautiful you looked."

Ayumi suddenly slapped him and walked out, the wolves followed her. She didn't exactly understand where she was going, but as long as it was away from that jerk, she didn't care. The wolves seemed to know where to go anyway so she just followed them. They took her through a series of passages into a dark tunnel. They led her through a very low ceiling tunnel then out into the bright sunlight.

She had to turn away and wait several minutes before her eyes adjusted to the light. The wolves waited for her then when she was able to see they moved on. The wolves led her up the mountainside onto the very top of the peak. She sat down on a rock as they laid down to rest.

"Why did you take me here?" Ayumi asked the wolves. She didn't really expect an answer, but she just needed to ask.

"We needed you to see," one of the wolves said. She jumped, she didn't know which of the wolves that had spoken, but all of the wolves were looking towards a symbol engraved on the side of a stone.

"Well, I'm either going mad or are you going to tell me what this means."

"The symbol is in your scent. We do not know the meaning of this symbol or how it came to be, but all of the wolves know of it. We hide it from man and show only those who may need it."

"Why do I need it? Am I going to use it as some magic spell or maybe as a way to contact you or what?"

"We do not know."

"Great, well, this symbol looks like a sun, with petals, and it is on a rock. Umm… maybe the flower will grow from the rock because of the sun?"

"We do not know, we only know that the seer of the symbol understands it." The wolves lifted their noses in the air and then looked at Ayumi. "You will be leaving soon. We must take you back."

"Wait, how do you know?" Then suddenly she smelt it too. Somebody or something was coming. "Where do these things keep coming from?" She asked herself.

"You are one-fourth a demon and will have demon powers. You have slept for years. Somehow, you were able to awaken your inner self."

"More puzzles. Don't you guys ever talk normally." She asked exasperated.

"Sometimes, but we prefer the riddles more."

"Was that a joke? Coming from a wolf? Wow now I really have gone crazy." Ayumi smiled up at the sun. The scent of her parents was welcoming to her nose.

The wolves were silent the rest of the trip back, she didn't really need to ask them anything though. Sure she could ask the stupid questions like, "how can I hear you?" but she really didn't need to. She sort of, not really, understood what was going on. Her mind kept wandering to the flower/sun on the rock. What's that supposed to mean?

"I don't know where the wolves are! That girl took them!" Koga yelled.

"Well, tell the girl to get them back here because a snake-demon is attacking one of our dens!" Ayame yelled back at her husband.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you needed your wolves, they just wanted to show me something." Ayumi said quietly as she walked over to the bickering couple.

"Oh there you are," Koga said as he acted like the whole morning experience didn't happen.

"My friends, come we must fight for our den." Ayame ordered. The wolves ran after her as she ran out of the den to go fight the snake-demon.

"Now that she's gone," Koga moved closer to Ayumi, "We can have some private talk."

Ayumi slapped him again and walked out. She walked out into the sunlight. She looked down on the forest below the mountain. How was she going to get home now? She didn't even know where she was. The only thing she was sure of was that she didn't want to stay around Koga anymore. She didn't want to get involved with a couple who are wolf-demons.

Ayumi heard Koga coming up behind her. She didn't want Koga to try and flirt with her again. She wanted to get away. She remembered that Koga had said that she ran 40 miles in eight minutes. Could she do it again?

"Ayumi wait, I need to –" Koga started as she started running. Ayumi closed her eyes and tried to make herself run faster.

"Ayumi!" Someone yelled.

Ayumi didn't stop. She figured it was just Koga trying to catch up to her. She kept running until she heard it again. This time it was a female voice. She stopped next an oak tree and sat down. She listened for the voice, not sure if she should go to it, or if she should keep running.

"Ayumi!" she heard again. She knew that voice. It was Sango's voice. Ayumi stood up and strained her ears to where it came from.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" a voice asked from behind her.

Ayumi looked behind her to see a man with spiky bones protruding out of his body and his cold eyes were looking right at Ayumi. Ayumi felt the evil radiating out of the man's body. Ayumi started backing away, but she bumped into something. She turned around to see a woman with red eyes in a cloak of red and white designs.

The woman smiled the grabbed Ayumi. Ayumi screamed, but it was cut off by the woman. The woman had covered her hand over Ayumi's mouth. "Naraku, what do you want me to do with this kid?"

_Naraku!_ Ayumi struggled more, but she couldn't get away. The woman was too strong.

"Take her to the castle, I'll be back after I deal with the others," Naraku said and started walking away.

Ayumi struggled more and managed to get her mouth uncovered. "Don't you dare hurt other people you, you sick, savage jerk! Let me go!" Ayumi managed to scream before her mouth was covered by the woman.

"What did you say?" Naraku narrowed his eyes at Ayumi.

Ayumi struggled at the woman's hand over her mouth. Ayumi couldn't get out of the woman's grasp, but she glared at Naraku coldly.

"Kagura, you may let her speak."

"Yes, sir," Kagura nodded and removed her hand.

"You jerk! How can you kill innocent lives like that! My dad told me how you slaughtered thousands of people! What were you thinking? Wait, even I can answer that! You weren't thinking about the families, friends, brothers and sister, mothers and fathers, all of those people whose lives you ruined! You're hurting people right now, but do you care? I don't think so! You're such a savage jerk! My dad will come and kill you when he finds you!" Ayumi shouted as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear her and come to her rescue.

"That's enough! Kagura cover her mouth!" Naraku ordered. "If you think your father could come and destroy me, he would have."

Ayumi struggled against Kagura's iron grip.

"Let your father come! I'll kill him in a second." Naraku waved his arm and walked off.

"Jerk!" Ayumi managed to scream out before Kagura covered her mouth.

"Shut up, Kid!" Kagura kicked Ayumi before getting on a feather and flying off to Naraku's castle.


	4. Ayumi Captured

Props to:

Christa – Thanks!

And sorry for those readers who want a long chapter, but I need to stop here before it gets confusing. Any questions send them in reviews. I will answer them. And I'm starting to write the next chapter now.

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"Ayumi!" Inuyasha called out as he entered Koga's den.

"What are you doing here, Mutt?" Koga yelled from inside the cave.

"I'm looking for my daughter! I saw you run off with her!"

"Well I haven't seen her since she had run off!"

"Please! Koga, Inuyasha, stop yelling at each other." Kagome shouted over the bickering two.

"Oh, Kagome, my apologies, but Ayumi ran off when I tried to tell her that we should go looking for you." Koga said as gentleman-like as he could without flirting since Inuyasha was there.

"Oh, well, do you know where she went?" Kagome asked.

"She ran off that way, to the west. I couldn't see her after she ran past the horizon."

"You better not have done anything to her wolf or else!" Inuyasha threatened before running off with Kagome on his back. They ran into the sunset for their lost child.

"Here, take her." Kagura handed a tied and gagged Ayumi to Kohaku.

"But you're supposed to watch her," Kohaku shrugged as he caught Ayumi.

"I'll be right back, don't worry." Kagura walked off and went out of view from Kohaku.

Kohaku sighed, "I suppose I should watch you."

Ayumi just looked at him and tried to smile. He was young, and he looked innocent, but Ayumi knew better than to trust looks. Koga looked nice, but he turned out to be a complete jerk. At least he didn't threaten her though.

Ayumi shifted herself to lie down and soon fell asleep. Kohaku looked at her then turned back to the door. He didn't want to get into trouble, but he had a thought in the back of his mind that he didn't want Kagura to come back. He liked the peace, and he wanted to think about that girl he kept seeing with Inuyasha. Why did she keep coming into his head? Why can't he get her out of his head?

Inuyasha had heard a faint scream from Ayumi, but it was so far away. He would never catch up to her fast enough. He smelled Sango and knew she would help Ayumi if she could. Suddenly, Naraku's scent overcame his sense of smell. He ran faster through the thick forest. Sango couldn't take on Naraku by herself, and neither could Ayumi.

Sango heard Ayumi scream and looked down at the horrible sight of Naraku and Kagura holding Ayumi captive. Kagura had covered Ayumi's mouth so she couldn't speak. She saw Ayumi struggle, but she couldn't get away. Sango didn't dare to take on Naraku by herself, and Miroku had stayed at the inn they stayed in last night to do an exorcist of the inn. What was she to do now? All she could do was watch. She didn't dare take on Naraku by herself. She would be killed immediately. She needed Inuyasha's help.

She saw Naraku walk off and Kagura take Ayumi away. She ducked down into the forest to hide from Kagura. Kirara transformed into her cute little kitten form. Sango picked her up and sat down in some bushes. Sango looked around to see Naraku walked by and not notice her. She sighed and relaxed. Naraku hadn't seen her, she was safe.


	5. In the Castle

Props to:

Ellen Tee – Thanks, I think… and Ayumi doesn't have Inuyasha's powers yet, she's developing them. So she has speed, but not strength.

Bananafish – One: It's called a story. If it all has the original characters, then the writer is limited by the originality of the characters already there and unable to write an interesting story. Plus this is suppose to prepare writers on how to write in the future when they are making their own books and not copying off shows. Two: dialogues are important, it tells you what's going on. If you skip the dialogue, it's just like skipping an important piece of a puzzle, even if it is tedious. Third: How do you want me to write if I can't even foreshadow something by switching views for a couple of lines? And if you can answer that then explain how to show finesse about switching views. Fourth: How can you say that the plot is unstable, you haven't even read far enough into the story to know what the plot is. And no, I make it a habit of reading what I write as if I were reading a brand new book, not knowing what's going to happen next. That way it makes it fun to write, even if it goes way off track. I'll fix it later.

Mike Attck – Thanks!

Christa – Thanks!

Read and Review my other story – W.I.T.C.H. Problems in Friendship and Sisters

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"It's about time you came back." Kohaku murmured as Kagura walked into the castle. He had waited for her for a few hours.

"Shut up." Kagura said angrily. She had found what she had wanted, but it wasn't the answer to her questions. She was frustrated from her endless searching. She wanted to get away from Naraku once and for all, but she didn't want to anger him. She remembered the last time she tried to run away. It was like a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.

"It's your turn to watch her." Kohaku sighed. When she got like this she would never do her work, he thought.

"Yeah, I get it." Kohaku walked away from the sleeping Ayumi. She didn't wake from them talking. Kohaku was a little intrigued why Naraku would want such a weak child. He shrugged it off and kept walking. He was supposed to have been able to explore more from their new hiding spot. The castle never changes, but he always like exploring the surroundings.

Ayumi had woken when Kohaku left. She could smell the people and it alerted her. She wondered how long she was able to do that, but she didn't care. This place made her so tired, it was like sleeping on a cloud in a desolate wasteland: disturbing and comfortable. She tried to stay awake long enough to see Kohaku turn the corner and Kagura sit down next to her.

"What are you looking at?" Kagura sneered.

Ayumi tried to speak, but her gag would let her.

"Kagura, where have you been?" Naraku called from doorway.

"Naraku, I was just exploring the area." Kagura lied.

Naraku narrowed his eyes, but let it go. "You may untie her now, she needs to eat."

"Yes, sir," Kagura said coldly. She had just been ordered to feed her. Ayumi watched as Kagura untied her and walked off.

"I wonder what that was about," Ayumi said to herself. It felt good not to be tied and gagged anymore. She walked through the doorway and went the other way Kagura and Kohaku did, to the left. She wanted to escape, but she wasn't going to get that chance if she was caught. She still felt sleepy. She held back a yawn and turned down another hallway.

Ayumi looked through a hole in a wooden door to see thousands of demons trapped in a huge room. She back away slowly and took another hallway. She looked through another door to see a little girl with white hair and a mirror in her hands. Ayumi got a feeling of distrust from her and walked away. She found a four-way hallway intersection and wondered where to go.

"Hello, Ayumi." Naraku whispered from behind her. Ayumi froze and felt her face pale. She picked the hallway to her right and started running as fast as she could. She didn't want to get caught again. She stopped when a bright light took over her senses.

She closed her eyes and saw sunshine making the dew on the grass shine like glitter. She looked behind her and saw no one. She took a step out of the castle, but immediately felt something wrong when she took another step on the green grass. She stood stock still and waited. She didn't hear anything. There weren't any animals out. She bent down and looked at the grass, it was too green. She plucked a piece from it and the piece suddenly turned brown. She looked down as all of the plants and grass turned a dead brown. She wanted to scream, but she shoved her fist into her mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Kagura appeared in front of her.

"I was just- just exploring and then- then I found a way out and it all died." Ayumi stuttered. If they thought she was just a scared little girl, they wouldn't go so hard on her, she thought.

"Here," Kagura through a dead rabbit at her. Ayumi wanted to scream, but she just stared at the carcass.

"I- I don't eat meat." Ayumi lied. Her mother had always made her eat it, but she never liked the flavor.

"Well then, you can just starve." Kagura said coldly and walked off.

"Wait!" Ayumi ran after her. She knew that Kagura had to help her, and she wanted to use that as much as she could.

"What?" Kagura didn't turn, but just stopped.

"I can't eat it, it still has fur, and it's raw." Ayumi complained.

"So, skin it, cook it, and then eat it." Kagura was getting annoyed. Didn't this girl know how to survive in the wild?

"I don't know how to." Ayumi looked at the ground and stopped the tears that had started bunching up under her eyes.

Kagura sighed and went back to the rabbit. She started a fire and began to cook it when Ayumi sat down in the brown grass next to her. "Why does Naraku want me?" Ayumi asked quietly.

"What? Oh, I don't know. You don't seem very special to me." Kagura lied. She had seen how fast Ayumi could run, faster than the wolf demon, Koga. She wondered why Naraku didn't just absorb that power though.

"I hope my father comes to save me." Ayumi pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She felt lonely, she had only seen three people to talk to, and one of them captured her, the other is pure evil, and the third is quiet.

"Why? Aren't you afraid he will be killed when Naraku finds him?" Kagura didn't look at Ayumi when she asked. She didn't want to see her crying.

"No, because I know my dad can save me." Ayumi remembered their fight at the village, Inuyasha had almost been killed by his hand, and he tired so easily when he fought Naraku's puppet. The puppet hadn't even become tired. It scared Ayumi; so much power in just a puppet and the real thing must be ten times that strong. She wasn't sure if Inuyasha could kill Naraku at all.

"Wow, he must be a brave, or stupid, man." Kagura laughed at the thought of a mortal man trying to stand up against Naraku.

"My father isn't stupid!" Ayumi argued.

"Then who is your father?" Kagura sneered.

"He's–" Ayumi stopped and thought about telling Kagura who he was. If she did tell her she would either laugh or tell Naraku. If she lied she would laugh, but Inuyasha would be safe. She decided to lie. "He's Mr. Johnson!"

Kagura narrowed her eyes, it was obvious that Ayumi lied, but who is Mr. Johnson? That name sounded so unfamiliar.

Ayumi wanted to hit herself, she had just told Kagura her math teacher's name. What was she thinking? Mr. Johnson was the stupidest man in the world, why would he be a threat to Naraku?

"Mr. Johnson sure sounds weak and stupid to me." Kagura laughed. She hadn't laughed in so long, but this girl made her want to laugh.

"Shut up." Ayumi grumbled, but she couldn't help herself from smiling. He _was_ the stupid and weak man Kagura had described. Ayumi heard Kagura laughing at her. She looked up to see an unhappy woman laughing at a little girl. It truly was an odd sight. Ayumi had to hold back the urge to laugh. It wouldn't look good if she laughed with the woman laughing at her.

Once all the laughing had died down, there was silence. Ayumi relaxed as the rabbit sizzled on the fire. Kagura turned it over once in a while, but other than that, there was silence. They sat there looking in different directions and thinking different things.

Ayumi caught the scent of something, it smelled familiar, but she couldn't tell what it was. She heard a wolf howl and figured out what it was. The wolves were coming to rescue her. Kagura heard it to, but she didn't make any moves. She finished cooking the rabbit and ripped off a leg. She threw it at Ayumi and ripped another one off for herself.

Ayumi bit down into the rabbit and immediately tasted something different about it. It wasn't like the store bought packages like her mom got, this was good. She took another bite out of it and savored the flavor before swallowing. Before she knew it, she had eaten her half of the rabbit.

"You sure eat a lot for not liking meat." Kagura pointed out.

"I've never had rabbit before. This is really good." Ayumi complimented.

"Thanks," Kagura smiled as another wolf howl rang from far away.

Ayumi looked to the noise and felt a longing to be free. She knew that they were coming, but she could tell it would be another hour before they arrived. Kagura stood up and walked off.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ayumi asked.

"I'm going to find Kohaku. He'll be able to take care of you better than I can." Kagura sighed. It was true; she was a fighter, not a mother.

Ayumi watched as Kagura gave her a chance to get away. She stood and started walking off in the direction of the wolf howls. She walked through a layer of dead leaves, checking to make sure she wasn't followed. She picked up a scent that she recognized, Koga. He was with someone. Ayumi sniffed the air again and smelled a girl. She thought back to everyone she had met, Miroku, Inuyasha, Koga, Kagome, Kagura, Naraku, Kohaku, and a name she couldn't remember. She sniffed the air and Sango's picture appeared in her mind.

Sango was with Koga, and they were with the wolves. Ayumi frowned. She really didn't want to talk to Koga. The jerk could just go hide in a cave for all she cared, but she knew she shouldn't run from Sango. Sango was worried about her, Ayumi wondered how she knew, but she knew. It was something about the scent.

She started running towards Sango's scent. Ayumi had to stop before she hit Naraku's castle. She had just ran from this thing, how is it here? Ayumi turned and ran away from it. It appeared in front of her. What was going on? How was she going to escape? Was there more than one castle?

Ayumi shook her head and walked to the fire Kagura had built. She sat down on a fallen tree trunk and watched the embers die down. Kohaku appeared next to her, but she was used to people suddenly appearing and disappearing. She was bored of it.

"Where were you?" He asked.

"Trying to escape, you?" Ayumi said plainly.

"Trying to find you," Kohaku smiled, at least she was honest.

Ayumi sighed and looked at Kohaku. She saw that he was worried about her. She wondered why.

"It's dangerous to leave the castle." Kohaku pointed out.

"I can take care of myself, but there's some sort of magic around here that won't let me leave." Ayumi sighed as the sound of the wolves rang out, but they were farther away.

"Why would you want to run away?" Kohaku asked.

"It's not obvious? The creepy castle, the dark, dank hallways, the rooms filled with demons, the fact that my family is miles away, what isn't a reason to run?" Ayumi listed.

Kohaku didn't say anything, but instead, sat down next to Ayumi and sighed. The sunset was slowly taking over the sky. Ayumi guessed it was at least six, maybe seven, o-clock. She figured she had already missed her Parent-Teacher conferences, and her tests. She had been there for three days. She thought about it, and decided that she still liked it here better than her old life. This one was at least interesting.

"Safe and boring versus exciting and dangerous," she murmured.

"What?" Kohaku asked.

Ayumi blushed, she hadn't meant to have him hear her, but she answered him, "Safe and boring versus exciting and dangerous, my old life versus my new one."

"What was your old life like?" Kohaku asked.

"Terrible," Ayumi exaggerated, "you had to go to school, get a job, work just to pay the government to live, and they put a price on everything. You have to waste away in school for twelve years, just to go to college for four years, just to work at the nearest fast food joint."

"That sounds horrible, but what's government?"

"Right, you're from here. Government is a group of jerks that control everyone else and try to gain power for themselves." Ayumi stated. She really didn't like the way the government worked.

"What's a jerk?" Kohaku asked.

"A jerk is someone who is rude and acts like the world revolves around him." She realized she had just described her ex-boyfriend.

"Oh," Kohaku sighed and wondered if her were a 'jerk.'

"What's this world like in your opinion?" Ayumi asked.

"There are demons everywhere, hundreds of people get killed just because of them, and demons and humans alike are searching for shards of the Shikon jewel shard so they can become all powerful." Kohaku wondered if they worlds were somehow the same.

"No matter where you go, things search for power and people get killed." Ayumi sighed. "I guess it's just a matter of who will stand up to them."

Kohaku thought about what she had just said, 'people who stand up to them.' It made sense. He sighed as he looked into the dying embers. Nothing in this place ever lived with Naraku around. His miasma was so strong. He wondered why Ayumi didn't fall under its path. Even he couldn't stand it for very long. He always left to do something else.

"Ayumi–" Kohaku started. He couldn't bring himself to ask her.

"Yeah?" Ayumi looked up at the boy who was barely older than her. Naraku's power kept Kohaku from aging quickly.

"Nothing," Kohaku sighed and looked away.

Ayumi watched him for a second longer before turning towards the now dead fire. She watched as the last puff of smoke rose from the fire. She realized that she was stuck there until Naraku wanted her gone. She wanted to escape, but the more she thought about it, the more she didn't. If she escaped, she would be sent home, but if she stayed she could be in the Feudal Era forever.


	6. In the Hands of Fire

Ayumi was sitting alone at a fire she had built. It had been three days since she had first been captured. She poked the fire once more and sighed from boredom. At least in her time there were books to read, even if they were boring. She slowly got off of the wet log and doused the fire. She looked around and saw Kagura flying far overhead on a feather. She didn't see Kohaku anywhere.

"Hey," Kohaku said from behind her. Ayumi jumped and turned around. "Naraku wants me to take you somewhere."

"Where?" Ayumi asked.

"We're going to a village nearby," Kohaku looked away before continuing. "Naraku doesn't want you around when a… friend comes."

"A friend?" Ayumi wondered but she shrugged it off and followed Kohaku as he traveled out of the castle's magic. Ayumi was nervous when Kohaku told her to stay there then suddenly ran off. She didn't want to stat out alone, but she didn't want to disobey him.

"It's safe," Kohaku said from behind her.

Ayumi jumped again and wondered if she would ever get used to that. "Safe from what?" she asked.

"There were bandits waiting ahead," Kohaku answered.

"You didn't- You didn't kill them did you?" Ayumi asked. She searched his blade for any blood, but none showed.

"No, they were on the path nearby. If you listen, there are no sounds of animals or forest life besides the trees. That means that there are most likely bandits ahead." Kohaku explained.

"Oh, cool! Any other forest tips to give out?" Ayumi asked.

"Umm, if it happens, I'll be able to explain it better," Kohaku frowned. All of those things were second nature to him, how would he be able to explain?

"Cool," Ayumi smiled and began walking on the path again. Kohaku followed her, his trained steps making no noise at all. He looked at her bouncing hair and smiled as the sun made it seem like it glowed. Ayumi looked back to check on him and he quickly looked down. He blushed, but couldn't understand why he did.

Ayumi turned back and blushed too. She felt her heart flutter when she saw him blush. She listened to the birds that hardly ever played in the city. They sounded so near, unlike the pigeons of downtown Tokyo that sang on the tops of the towers. She listened as Kohaku's footsteps broke a twig behind her. She froze, Kohaku didn't make any noise. He was a demon hunter, and they are supposed to be like ninjas.

Ayumi turned slowly to see a group of people surrounding her and Kohaku tied in a net hung from a tree. Ayumi's heart jumped into her throat as the men advanced. Their eyes were all clouded over by shadow. Ayumi looked for an opening, anything to get away, but she didn't see one.

Kohaku pulled out a dagger and started cutting the wire net. He had found the bandits on the other trail. Had they seen him? He broke one of the cords and started on another as the bandits pulled out their knives and moved closer to Ayumi. Kohaku broke through another cord, but it wasn't fast enough. Ayumi screamed as the first bandit broke the ring and lunged at her. She dodged, but fell as he slashed again.

The man slashed at her throat as she screamed again. She kicked up and hit him in the stomach before he could slice her. He fell to the ground next to her and she moved quickly to stand. Another man broke the circle as the first one was getting up. She dodged him quickly and ran to the opening he had made. Kohaku cut through another cord and reached down. He grabbed her arm and swung her up into the tree.

Ayumi was breathing heavily as she helped Kohaku break free. She undid the knot at the top of the net as the men started climbing up the tree. Kohaku fell from the net and landed on two men. He got up as one of the men sliced down. The man sliced through his companion and yelled with rage as Kohaku jumped up and embedded his knife into the man's neck. Ayumi looked away and felt like she was going to vomit. A man reached up from a branch below and grabbed her leg. She screamed and kicked the man off of the tree. She climbed higher as three more men followed her.

Kohaku was still busy fighting off five men with one blade. He didn't want to kill any of them in front of Ayumi, but he had to. He heard her scream again as a branch broke from underneath her and she dangled from a branch that was slowly cracking. Kohaku looked up and got sliced in the stomach as the men surrounded him. He tried to dodge all of the blades, but couldn't. He pulled out his chain-sickle and began to strike down the opponents.

Ayumi couldn't look. She had to focus on the branch. She slowly made her way towards the edge to the branch, hoping she could reach the other tree. The men were stating to climb closer still and the branch was about to break off from all the weight. Ayumi swung and jumped to the next branch as the first one fell to the ground. Ayumi screamed at Kohaku. He dodged the broken branch just in time and jumped up to climb to where Ayumi was. The men below weren't moving, either they were unconscious or dead, one couldn't tell. Kohaku grabbed Ayumi's waist and slowly helped her down from the tall tree.

Ayumi smiled as she stepped away from Kohaku and blushed when he looked away. She looked at the bodies of the bandits and pulled out a sword that wasn't bloody. She shrugged and said, "Just in case," when Kohaku looked at her strangely. She couldn't stand looking at the bodies for very long and told Kohaku she had to go to the bathroom so he wouldn't know she vomited. The sight of so much blood ad mangled bodies made her realize why her mother didn't stay here long.

She walked back the trail and smiled as Kohaku cleaned his chain-sickle. She sat down on the fallen branch and began praying for the souls. She felt that it was the only thing she could do. Kohaku gave her another strange look, but she didn't notice. She finished her prayer as Kohaku stood to go. Ayumi slid her sword into her belt loop, amazingly it fit, and followed Kohaku down the trail.

They reached the village by the afternoon and saw that it was deserted. Ayumi let out a depressed sigh when she heard her stomach growl. She added a point to the mental list of why Kagome goes back to her time and doesn't stay in Feudal Japan. She looked around and saw a little boy cowering in a corner of a building and walked over.

"Hey there, I'm Ayumi. What's your name?" Ayumi asked politely.

"You're a demon! Please don't kill me!" The boy cried.

"I'm not a… never mind," she realized she was technically a demon since her dad was, but that didn't mean that all demons were evil. "I'm a good demon," she smiled. It didn't have the effect she had wanted, but the boy turned to look at her.

"A good demon? Are there good demons?" The boy asked.

"Well, I am, so I guess so. What's your name?" Ayumi held out her hand and helped the boy stand.

He was still shaky and nervous when he stammered, "H-Ha-Hara."

"Hara, where is everyone from this village?" Ayumi asked.

"They ran away. Most of them were killed by demons. I had to find my sister, but I couldn't see her. It was late and the demons were like dark shadows in the sky!" Hara hugged Ayumi and cried into her shirt. She patted his back and tried to give him support, but she didn't know what to do.

"Don't worry, I'm sure your sister is around here somewhere," Ayumi lied. She didn't think that a young girl would still be alive after a demon attack, but she had to give support to the little boy.

"Ayumi, come here." Kohaku ordered. He sounded tense and nervous. Ayumi pushed Hara off of her and grabbed the handle of the sword she stole.

"What is it Kohaku?" Ayumi asked. She listened and heard no noise except Hara, sobbing into her arm. "Another bandit attack?"

"No, it's bigger than that." Kohaku grabbed his chain-sickle and Ayumi pulled out her sword. She really didn't know how to use it, but she hoped it would help.

"It's the demons! They've come back!" Hara cried into Ayumi's arm and grabbed her leg tightly.

"It's coming," Kohaku warned and tightened his grip on his weapon.

A swarm of demons flew over the kids' heads and turned around in the sky to attack. Most of them looked like giant snakes with wings protruding out of their bodies every ten feet. Some of them had arms with dagger-like claws on them. All of them had fangs that snapped at the group. Ayumi managed to cut on down, but it instantly healed.

"Nothing's working!" Ayumi cried as she watched Kohaku's attack instantly heal.

"We have to find my sister!" Hara pulled on Ayumi's arm. Ayumi dropped her sword and fell to the ground. Hara started to run to the nearest house and tried to open the door. Ayumi grabbed her sword and ran after Hara, not hearing Kohaku's orders to stay near him.

"Wait! Hara, come back!" Ayumi yelled as Hara pried the door open and went inside. Ayumi ran up to the door and saw a little girl hiding under a table. She walked in as a demon flew by and stopped by the scared little girl. Hara was talking to her and asking all sorts of questions. The girl didn't answer any of them.

"Ayumi, something's wrong," Hara warned.

"You think?" Ayumi said sarcastically and motioned to the door when a demon flew by.

"She won't talk! Miharu is the only one who can save us!" Hara cried, ignoring the demons surrounding the building.

"How can she save us? She's just a little girl! We have to help Kohaku!" Ayumi shouted over the roaring and screeching of the demons.

"I am not a little girl!" The girl pouted.

"Well then, if you're such a big girl, than help us!" Ayumi shouted. The girl looked away and didn't say anything. Hara glared at Ayumi. "Look, I'm sorry, but if we don't get out of here the demons are going to hurt my friend." Ayumi said softly, she had to be face-to-face with the girl so she could just hear her.

"I need your help." The girl whispered to Ayumi.

"How?" Ayumi asked as the boy let go of the girl.

"Grab my hands," the girl murmured and held out her hands. Ayumi wasn't sure about it, but she grabbed them. A burning pain shot through her body and she closed her eyes. She tried to pull her hands free, but couldn't. She struggled against the pain, her vision was blurry and soon, all she saw was darkness.


	7. Dog Ears

Ayumi was sitting alone at a fire she had built. It had been three days since she had first been captured. She poked the fire once more and sighed from boredom. At least in her time there were books to read, even if they were boring. She slowly got off of the wet log and doused the fire. She looked around and saw Kagura flying far overhead on a feather. She didn't see Kohaku anywhere.

"Hey," Kohaku said from behind her. Ayumi jumped and turned around. "Naraku wants me to take you somewhere."

"Where?" Ayumi asked.

"We're going to a village nearby," Kohaku looked away before continuing. "Naraku doesn't want you around when a… friend comes."

"A friend?" Ayumi wondered but she shrugged it off and followed Kohaku as he traveled out of the castle's magic. Ayumi was nervous when Kohaku told her to stay there then suddenly ran off. She didn't want to stat out alone, but she didn't want to disobey him.

"It's safe," Kohaku said from behind her.

Ayumi jumped again and wondered if she would ever get used to that. "Safe from what?" she asked.

"There were bandits waiting ahead," Kohaku answered.

"You didn't- You didn't kill them did you?" Ayumi asked. She searched his blade for any blood, but none showed.

"No, they were on the path nearby. If you listen, there are no sounds of animals or forest life besides the trees. That means that there are most likely bandits ahead." Kohaku explained.

"Oh, cool! Any other forest tips to give out?" Ayumi asked.

"Umm, if it happens, I'll be able to explain it better," Kohaku frowned. All of those things were second nature to him, how would he be able to explain?

"Cool," Ayumi smiled and began walking on the path again. Kohaku followed her, his trained steps making no noise at all. He looked at her bouncing hair and smiled as the sun made it seem like it glowed. Ayumi looked back to check on him and he quickly looked down. He blushed, but couldn't understand why he did.

Ayumi turned back and blushed too. She felt her heart flutter when she saw him blush. She listened to the birds that hardly ever played in the city. They sounded so near, unlike the pigeons of downtown Tokyo that sang on the tops of the towers. She listened as Kohaku's footsteps broke a twig behind her. She froze, Kohaku didn't make any noise. He was a demon hunter, and they are supposed to be like ninjas.

Ayumi turned slowly to see a group of people surrounding her and Kohaku tied in a net hung from a tree. Ayumi's heart jumped into her throat as the men advanced. Their eyes were all clouded over by shadow. Ayumi looked for an opening, anything to get away, but she didn't see one.

Kohaku pulled out a dagger and started cutting the wire net. He cursed himself for being so distracted by Ayumi. He had found the bandits on the other trail. Had they seen him? Why didn't he know that they would come to this road? He broke one of the cords and started on another as the bandits pulled out their knives and moved closer to Ayumi. Kohaku broke through another cord, but it wasn't fast enough. Ayumi screamed as the first bandit broke the ring and lunged at her. She dodged, but fell as he slashed again.

The man slashed at her throat as she screamed again. She kicked up and hit him in the stomach before he could slice her. He fell to the ground next to her and she moved quickly to stand. Another man broke the circle as the first one was getting up. She dodged him quickly and ran to the opening he had made. Kohaku cut through another cord and reached down. He grabbed her arm and swung her up into the tree.

Ayumi was breathing heavily as she helped Kohaku break free. She undid the knot at the top of the net as the men started climbing up the tree. Kohaku fell from the net and landed on two men. He got up as one of the men sliced down. The man sliced through his companion and yelled with rage as Kohaku jumped up and embedded his knife into the man's neck. Ayumi looked away and felt like she was going to vomit. A man reached up from a branch below and grabbed her leg. She screamed and kicked the man off of the tree. She climbed higher as three more men followed her.

Kohaku was still busy fighting off five men with one blade. He didn't want to kill any of them in front of Ayumi, but he had to. He heard her scream again as a branch broke from underneath her and she dangled from a branch that was slowly cracking. Kohaku looked up and got sliced in the stomach as the men surrounded him. He tried to dodge all of the blades, but couldn't. He pulled out his chain-sickle and began to strike down the opponents.

Ayumi couldn't look. She had to focus on the branch. She slowly made her way towards the edge to the branch, hoping she could reach the other tree. The men were stating to climb closer still and the branch was about to break off from all the weight. Ayumi swung and jumped to the next branch as the first one fell to the ground. Ayumi screamed at Kohaku. He dodged the broken branch just in time and jumped up to climb to where Ayumi was. The men below weren't moving, either they were unconscious or dead, one couldn't tell. Kohaku grabbed Ayumi's waist and slowly helped her down from the tall tree.

Ayumi smiled as she stepped away from Kohaku and blushed when he looked away. She looked at the bodies of the bandits and pulled out a sword that wasn't bloody. She shrugged and said, "Just in case," when Kohaku looked at her strangely. She couldn't stand looking at the bodies for very long and told Kohaku she had to go to the bathroom so he wouldn't know she vomited. The sight of so much blood ad mangled bodies made her realize why her mother didn't stay here long.

She walked back the trail and smiled as Kohaku cleaned his chain-sickle. She sat down on the fallen branch and began praying for the souls. She felt that it was the only thing she could do. Kohaku gave her another strange look, but she didn't notice. She finished her prayer as Kohaku stood to go. Ayumi slid her sword into her belt loop, amazingly it fit, and followed Kohaku down the trail.

They reached the village by the afternoon and saw that it was deserted. Ayumi let out a depressed sigh when she heard her stomach growl. She added a point to the mental list of why Kagome goes back to her time and doesn't stay in Feudal Japan. She looked around and saw a little boy cowering in a corner of a building and walked over.

"Hey there, I'm Ayumi. What's your name?" Ayumi asked politely.

"You're a demon! Please don't kill me!" The boy cried.

"I'm not a… never mind," she realized she was technically a demon since her dad was, but that didn't mean that all demons were evil. "I'm a good demon," she smiled. It didn't have the effect she had wanted, but the boy turned to look at her.

"A good demon? Are there good demons?" The boy asked.

"Well, I am, so I guess so. What's your name?" Ayumi held out her hand and helped the boy stand.

He was still shaky and nervous when he stammered, "H-Ha-Hara."

"Hara, where is everyone from this village?" Ayumi asked.

"They ran away. Most of them were killed by demons. I had to find my sister, but I couldn't see her. It was late and the demons were like dark shadows in the sky!" Hara hugged Ayumi and cried into her shirt. She patted his back and tried to give him support, but she didn't know what to do.

"Don't worry, I'm sure your sister is around here somewhere," Ayumi lied. She didn't think that a young girl would still be alive after a demon attack, but she had to give support to the little boy.

"Ayumi, come here." Kohaku ordered. He sounded tense and nervous. Ayumi pushed Hara off of her and grabbed the handle of the sword she stole.

"What is it Kohaku?" Ayumi asked. She listened and heard no noise except Hara, sobbing into her arm. "Another bandit attack?"

"No, it's bigger than that." Kohaku grabbed his chain-sickle and Ayumi pulled out her sword. She really didn't know how to use it, but she hoped it would help.

"It's the demons! They've come back!" Hara cried into Ayumi's arm and grabbed her leg tightly.

"It's coming," Kohaku warned and tightened his grip on his weapon.

A swarm of demons flew over the kids' heads and turned around in the sky to attack. Most of them looked like giant snakes with wings protruding out of their bodies every ten feet. Some of them had arms with dagger-like claws on them. All of them had fangs that snapped at the group. Ayumi managed to cut on down, but it instantly healed.

"Nothing's working!" Ayumi cried as she watched Kohaku's attack instantly heal.

"We have to find my sister!" Hara pulled on Ayumi's arm. Ayumi dropped her sword and fell to the ground. Hara started to run to the nearest house and tried to open the door. Ayumi grabbed her sword and ran after Hara, not hearing Kohaku's orders to stay near him.

"Wait! Hara, come back!" Ayumi yelled as Hara pried the door open and went inside. Ayumi ran up to the door and saw a little girl hiding under a table. She walked in as a demon flew by and stopped by the scared little girl. Hara was talking to her and asking all sorts of questions. The girl didn't answer any of them.

"Ayumi, something's wrong," Hara warned.

"You think?" Ayumi said sarcastically and motioned to the door when a demon flew by.

"She won't talk! Miharu is the only one who can save us!" Hara cried, ignoring the demons surrounding the building.

"How can she save us? She's just a little girl! We have to help Kohaku!" Ayumi shouted over the roaring and screeching of the demons.

"I am not a little girl!" The girl pouted.

"Well then, if you're such a big girl, than help us!" Ayumi shouted. The girl looked away and didn't say anything. Hara glared at Ayumi. "Look, I'm sorry, but if we don't get out of here the demons are going to hurt my friend." Ayumi said softly, she had to be face-to-face with the girl so she could just hear her.

"I need your help." The girl whispered to Ayumi.

"How?" Ayumi asked as the boy let go of the girl.

"Grab my hands," the girl murmured and held out her hands. Ayumi wasn't sure about it, but she grabbed them. A burning pain shot through her body and she closed her eyes. She tried to pull her hands free, but couldn't. She struggled against the pain, her vision was blurry and soon, all she saw was darkness.

"Ayumi?" Kohaku asked when Ayumi's eyes slowly flicked open.

"What happened?" Ayumi asked, feeling a dull pain throughout her body.

"I don't know, but the demons were destroyed." Kohaku supported Ayumi as she sat up and looked around.

"Where are we?" Ayumi asked as she noticed sunlight making its way into a small room.

"We're in the village still, but we had to find a better place for you to be," Kohaku glanced at her hair and noticed something twitch. He wanted to ask if she knew about it, but decided not to.

"What?" Ayumi snapped when she noticed Kohaku staring at her.

"Nothing," he said quickly. Ayumi thought he had said it too quickly and touched her extra extensions.

"What are these?" she asked as her face paled. Kohaku just shook his head no, but he didn't have to say anything. Ayumi's heart nearly stopped when she whispered the answer. "Dog ears," she whispered.

"When I entered the room, those kids were nowhere to be seen and you had…" Kohaku looked away.

"Had these?" Ayumi asked quietly.

Kohaku nodded and looked Ayumi in the face. "You've changed since the demons attacked," Kohaku murmured. Ayumi stared at Kohaku. She couldn't believe what he had said. _How could I change? How did I change?_ Ayumi wondered.

"Am I a half-demon?" Ayumi asked.

"I don't know." Kohaku stood and started walking away when Ayumi noticed something glimmer on his back.

"Wait," Ayumi said and quickly followed him. "Where are we going to go now?"

"I don't know, I suppose we should be heading back now," Kohaku shrugged.

"Already?" Ayumi was a little disappointed that she wasn't able to spend a lot of time away from the castle. She caught up to him and looked at him. He didn't turn towards her, but she could see the concentration and she saw him look sideways at her.

"What?" He asked. He looked at her as she turned away from him and muttered "nothing," quietly. He blushed and looked at her eyes. A flash of gold covered the brown of her eyes for a second, but then changed back. He watched as they flashed gold again and it took longer before they changed back. He looked away when Ayumi turned towards him and saw his eyes flick towards her. She blushed and turned away, her face turning a light pink.

"What happened to Hara and that girl?" Ayumi asked.

"They weren't there when I found you," Kohaku shrugged.

"But there was only one way out, you must have seen them!" Ayumi exclaimed. Kohaku didn't answer her. He just kept walking. She heard a slight rattle of chain and looked down at Kohaku's hand. It was grabbing the chain-sickle. He stopped and Ayumi was about to ask him when she saw his eyes change. They turned to dark shadows of black and he looked over at Ayumi.

"Run," Kohaku muttered.

"What? Kohaku, what's wrong?" Ayumi asked. Kohaku didn't answer. He swung the blade at Ayumi. Ayumi screamed and dodged it. She started running along the path and kept going. Kohaku was right behind her, but she didn't hear another swing. She praised her knew ears for saving her before hearing something in front of her.

She looked to see a man without a face in front of her. A mist slowly clouded everything from sight. She took a step back to bump into somebody. She turned and saw Kohaku holding up his chain-sickle. Ayumi decided on the lesser of two evils and chose to fight the man without a face. She ran towards it, but it wasn't there. She kept running away from Kohaku until she couldn't hear him.

"Is he gone?" Ayumi asked herself. She leaned against a tree and slid to the ground. She was out of breath and needed to rest. She tried to catch her breath while she looked around. The mist had disappeared as quickly as it had come and that made it easier to spot trouble. Ayumi felt her eyes closing and tried to make them open, but she was too tired. She fell asleep her back at a tree.


	8. Human or Demon?

Ayumi woke some time later with a waning gibbous in the sky. The new moon would be coming soon, only one more day, so that means she had already missed all of her tests. She remembered overhearing her teachers praising her for not being like her mother who never seemed to show up for school at all and mostly failed her tests when she did. According to them, she was the sickest person they had ever met.

The sky was dark and eerie as Ayumi stood and stretched. She felt her dog ears again, wondering why Kohaku just attacked her out of nowhere. Was it something she said, or looked if you count the ears? She gave up trying to figure it out and leaned against the tree. The North Star was supposed to show your way no matter where you came from, right? She frowned. All of them looked just like stars, nothing special about them.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" a woman asked. She sounded as if she were only a few years older than Ayumi. Ayumi stiffened and looked around. A woman, somewhere around her mid-teens going into the twenties, moved the brush aside. Her orange and white kimono snagged on the brush and she frowned before freeing herself. "Hello there, I'm Rin."

"I–" Ayumi wasn't sure if she could trust this woman, but she needed someone to tell her what was going on with the weird dog ears, "I'm Ayumi."

"It's–"

"Rin, get away from her." A man with one arm missing and silver hair pushed through to the woman.

"But, Master Sesshoumaru, Ayumi's only a little girl," Rin frowned.

"That half-demon smells of my pathetic brother, Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru answered.

"You're h– his brother?" Ayumi asked, shocked by the twist of events.

"How do you know of Inuyasha?" Rin asked.

"He's– he– he saved me from a demon," Ayumi lied.

"No, you're scent is too much like his, you have to be close to him," Sesshoumaru frowned.

"Hmm, she looks a lot like that human he travels with," Rin remarked.

"Um, I, uh, got to go, uh, to my, uh, village," Ayumi lied and turned around. The path was behind her and she had no idea where she was going, but she knew she had to get away.

But before Ayumi could start running, Sesshoumaru leapt in front of hr and grabbed her shirt collar. "I know who you are, little girl, and I know my brother will be looking for you."

Ayumi couldn't speak. Her heart was throbbing too strongly in her throat for her to let out more than a pathetic squeak. Thankfully, Rin stepped in and grabbed Ayumi's wrist before Sesshoumaru could drag her away. "Master Sesshoumaru, she needs rest first and it could take days trying to find Inuyasha. We should let her rest first and then take her back."

"Rin, she must be returned to my incompetent brother before Naraku finds her. The quicker I can get back, the quicker we can begin looking for Naraku again. Understand," Sesshoumaru asked. Rin nodded and didn't notice Ayumi's pleading eyes begging her to let her be. Ayumi was pulled close to Sesshoumaru and she could smell blood on him. She tried to struggle away from the scent, but stopped when he leapt off of the ground and over the trees.

"Please, sir, just let me go. I can find my own way back and my father won't be too hard to find and–" Ayumi begged.

"Be quiet," Sesshoumaru snapped. "You're changing into a half-demon and if you lose control of that than you won't be able to change back into what you were."

"A half-demon, but I'm only one-fourth demon, aren't I?" Ayumi asked. She suddenly remembered that girl and the pain she had caused. Did that change her?

"You must return to your own time before you change even further. It is dangerous for you to be here," Sesshoumaru stated. Ayumi just rolled her eyes and wondered how many times she had heard that. She didn't want to go back, not yet anyway. There was something she needed to do, but she couldn't remember what.

The moon was nearing the horizon and it gave a feeling of hope and distrust at the same time. Maybe she could hide in some village somewhere where nobody could find her. She would stay near the well and could jump in and out so she wouldn't miss too much school, but she needed to find the well first. Her uncle was taking her to her father, right? She scanned the horizon for anything that looked like her father, but nothing showed. The sky was still too dark to see any small specks of people in the air.

Sesshoumaru suddenly changed his course and turned right. He stopped soon after and sniffed the air. Ayumi could smell it too. Sango was nearby with Kirara. Sesshoumaru leapt off the ground again as Sango's scent neared and the small bit of flames around Kirara appeared out of the sky. Ayumi waved with her free hand as she saw Kirara land nearby. Sesshoumaru landed next to them.

"I found her in the forest. Tell Inuyasha to keep a better eye on his possessions because he'll never know who will take them," Sesshoumaru said as he dropped Ayumi on Kirara's back and left.

"Ayumi, are you hurt? Did Sesshoumaru do anything to you?" Sango paused and stared at her for what seemed like a decade. "You have Inuyasha's ears!"

"Surprise?" Ayumi frowned. She had been hoping that not too many people would notice them, but they stick out like a bright, glow in the dark object.

She lifted her hands ad covered them which snapped Sango out of her shock. "Sorry, but I'm not sure Kagome is going to like that much," Sango frowned. Kirara jumped off of the ground and Ayumi let go of her ears so she could hold on.

"Is Mom still here?" Ayumi asked. Normally her mother would be too busy to worry about her, but now that she was in the Feudal Era, she wouldn't go away.

"Yes, she's with Inuyasha. They're both worried about you," Sango explained. "But I'm not sure Kagome will let you come back when she sees that you have…"

"As if school wasn't hard enough, now I have to deal with being the freak of nature," Ayumi sighed. Life still looked better in this time than in the future.

There was silence for a long time as Ayumi gazed down at the forests and fields they passed over and Sango who continually searched for Inuyasha jumping over the forest's canopy. Ayumi smelled Inuyasha and Kagome before Sango pointed them out to her. She frowned at them and turned away. There was something wrong that she couldn't figure out. Something that she had forgotten to do, but now couldn't at all.

"Inuyasha! Kagome! I've got Ayumi!" Sango shouted, ignoring Ayumi's frown.

"Ayumi!" Kagome cried from the back of Inuyasha. Her determined face only proved that she was trying to be stern and hide her relief from her daughter. Kirara landed in an opening through the trees below and Ayumi slipped off. She couldn't look at any of them in their eyes for fear that they might notice something amiss. She kept looking down at the ground as the sun broke free from the horizon and the moon disappeared behind it.

"Ayumi, are you hurt?" Inuyasha asked.

"I'm fine," Ayumi answered sternly.

"Ayumi, you have dog ears!" Kagome cried. "How are you going to go to school with those?"

"Kagome," Inuyasha put his hand in front of her and stepped up to his daughter. "You smell of Naraku and Kohaku, what happened?"

Ayumi flinched at the name, still remembering his cold voice. "He kidnapped me. I broke free and ran away." It wasn't enough information to show that she was alright, but it was enough to show that she wasn't scared to recall it.

"Oh, Ayumi," Kagome cried and hugged her daughter.

"Mom, I'm fine," Ayumi answered, wanting to break free as tears formed in front of her eyes. "Really, I'll be okay. He didn't hurt me, I swear. Please, just let go."

The tears that Ayumi was trying to hold back broke free and fell down her face. All she could do was to hug her mother back tightly and then push away. She wiped them away sorrowfully as Inuyasha hugged her. He let go of her quickly so she didn't have to squirm under his grasp as she did with Kagome, but she still missed the feeling of being protected by both of them in their grip.

"Ayumi, what happened to you?" Inuyasha asked. "You smell of a half-demon instead of one-fourth."

"I don't know," Ayumi frowned. Was it that girl? Or was it staying with Naraku? Or was it something else that had changed her?

"Well, come on then. We better head back to the well so we can at least get some more food," Kagome said through a choked sob. She smiled sadly and helped Ayumi onto Inuyasha's back before climbing onto him herself. Sango didn't know what to say through this whole reunion so she stayed quiet as Kirara took off and Inuyasha followed.

Ayumi still couldn't remember what she was supposed to do, but she knew it was important. The well was only half a day away so she fell asleep wondering about it and awoke forgetting about it. The day was almost over and the sun was trying to stay above the edge of the horizon for as long as it could as Kirara landed with Miroku and Sango. Ayumi couldn't remember when Sango had left to go get him, but gave up trying to remember. She wasn't in the mood to try for it.

There were only a few more minutes before the moonrise and Inuyasha seemed more than agitated by it. Inuyasha tried hurrying Kagome, but she wouldn't leave until she knew he was safe for some reason. Ayumi just sat on the edge of the well and enjoyed the brilliant array of sunset colors. Sango and Miroku seemed to have taken up their own argument and a red mark was appearing on Miroku's face as Sango yelled at him. Both arguments blended together to cover up what they were saying, but it didn't bother Ayumi. She was content with just staying in the Feudal Era for as long as she could.

"Inuyasha, I'm not going to leave with the new moon so close! Who knows what trouble you could get yourself into?" Kagome shouted.

"You have to go back to your own time to protect Ayumi!" Inuyasha shouted back. Sango's and Miroku's argument had died down and they sat nearby on the well's edge with Ayumi.

"This is a rare time when Inuyasha actually wants Kagome to leave," Miroku smiled as if laughing to a hidden joke. Ayumi didn't understand why.

"That's true. It's normally Kagome that has to punish Inuyasha for trying to block up the well in one way or another. What was it last time, the boulder technique or the stand in her way technique?" Sango asked.

"No, Kagome slipped away while he was busy searching for the 'demon.'" Miroku grinned.

"How is Jaken anyway?" Sango asked. "I hope he didn't take too great a beating from Inuyasha once he found out."

"He's still at that old woman's hut, trying to get healed." Miroku grinned incessantly as Inuyasha and Kagome shouted over each other to be heard.

Ayumi suddenly got the scent of something sickening mixed with blood. Her ears perked up and they swiveled until she heard a man laughing and others screaming. "There's something bad going on nearby. The scent of blood is weak, but still there and I can hear a man laughing," Ayumi frowned at the two who weren't arguing.

"Better go without Inuyasha noticing or else he might want to help," Sango frowned. Kirara who was sleeping peacefully in her lap woke up and changed into the demon. Ayumi still had a slight fear of it, but it was only a slight fear as she climbed onto it and Miroku sat behind her.

Ayumi still couldn't understand why everyone seemed to be worrying about Inuyasha. Couldn't he take care of himself? Kirara lifted them over a village where a man was laughing. The setting sun made everything look even more bloodied as the red light was darkened by spots of bodies and blood. Ayumi couldn't help feeling sick from the scents, sights, and sounds of death. The man who was laughing was found easily as people were seen trying to run away from him.

Something was shining on his forehead as more people fought against him or ran away from him. They were all slaughtered by some unseen force. The purplish glow made Ayumi even sicker and if she had eaten recently, she would have thrown up. "Why is that man's head shining?" Ayumi asked, hoping for a distraction from the destruction.

"He must have a jewel shard with him. Damn, I thought we had all of those," Sango frowned. She threw her boomerang at the man, only to have it bounce off of some sort of barrier.

"That means I can't use my Wind Scar," Miroku frowned. The laughing man had stopped and turned to face Kirara as she landed with her passengers.

"Who dares to defy me? I, the Great King of Bandits, shall destroy you!" He shouted. The light coming off of his forehead glowed and several waves of something flew at the group. Ayumi screamed for them to duck, but it wasn't fast enough. They were all hit and blasted against a nearby house.

"What the hell was that?" Miroku asked as he rubbed his sore chest. Sango was holding her head and Kirara had changed back into a kitten, unconscious and unable to fight. Ayumi rubbed her neck where she had been hit and tried to focus her blurry vision on the man walking closer to the group.

"Get down!" Ayumi shouted. This time she was heard and the invisible waves took out the hut behind them, missing the group.

"How can you see my attacks? You're just a pathetic little girl," the man asked. He picked Ayumi up by the collar on her shirt and she struggled to break free. Another blast made Miroku and Sango unconscious behind her.

"Let me go!" Ayumi cried as she fought against the man. He threw her aside and she landed painfully on her side before rolling into a hut. Her vision was even more blurry than last time, but she saw the attacks coming at her and dodged them. They left a hole in the ground where her body would have been torn to shreds had she not moved.

"Such a pathetic girl," the man laughed. "Even if you can see my attacks, you don't stand a chance against the Great King of Bandits!"

Ayumi was sick of this man and his cold hearted laughter. She was sick of the smell of blood that clouded her sense of smell, the sounds of screaming and moaning as people died around her, sick of the purplish glow from the man's stupid forehead. She staggered a little as she stood. She used the hut she had hit to help her balance. She was too weak to stand, but her body refused to give up.

The man seemed surprised and scared of her at that moment as she felt herself change. Something inside of her was changing and becoming stronger. She remembered hearing Sesshoumaru's words, "If you lose control of that, you won't be able to change back, not matter what you were."

"Fight it," she whispered under her breath. "Fight for control."

But her struggles weren't helping as she walked forward. She had lost control of her body, but she couldn't worry about that now. She didn't want to become a demon. Her teeth tingled and sharpened as her hair fell in front of her face, changing to silver before her eyes. She looked like her father now.

The new moon was barely showing itself over the horizon. She dropped to her knees, feeling weak and strong at the same time. She couldn't understand it. Her hair changed back into the black that it should be and her teeth tingled and dulled. She closed her eyes for a few seconds to reestablish what was going on. She couldn't hear the sounds from way off anymore. The smell of blood dimmed and she wasn't dulled by it.

"Ayumi!" Kagome shouted over the laughing man. Ayumi snapped out of her confusion as the man stood over her and grabbed the back of her shirt. She was lifted to her feet and something cold and sharp pressed against her neck. Kagome ran out of the woods with a different man, one with black hair and brown eyes like hers. He looked familiar and a stranger at the same time. Who was this man?

The man rushed over to Sango and Miroku as Kagome lifted an arrow to her bow. The man checked their pulses before grabbing Miroku's staff. His sword stayed sheathed by his side. Ayumi suddenly recognized her father's sword and saw how he looked like him, but different, more _human._ Inuyasha must have been turned into a human like she had!

"Ayumi!" Both of her parents cried as she realized the Great King of Bandits was the one holding the knife to her throat. She didn't really care about that though. She knew her parents were in danger of his power more than she was with his knife slicing her throat.

"Inuyasha, there's a jewel shard in the man's forehead!" Kagome shouted as she tightened her arrow.

"I don't think you want to do that Miss," the bandit laughed again. Ayumi felt hatred well up inside her, but got control over it.

"Let Ayumi go!" Inuyasha demanded. He held Miroku's staff tightly and wielded it like a sword. That wasn't how you wield a staff, but Ayumi wasn't sure he knew how to wield one at all.

"I don't think you're in the right position to be ordering the Great King of Bandits around when I have this girl." More laughing came from the man as Ayumi once again had to gain control of her hatred.

"I am sick and tired of me being used as a tool to stop other people!" Ayumi screeched and grabbed the man behind her. With new found strength in her hatred, she threw the man over her and kicked him in the back before he could touch the ground. He rolled and stood slowly. The anger coming from his eyes was more than enough to scare Ayumi and make her want to flee. Kagome let lose her arrow which hit the man directly on the forehead, knocking out the jewel shard, but not killing the man. He quickly picked it up again and put it back in his forehead before Kagome could let loose another arrow.

"Ayumi, watch out!" Kagome cried. Ayumi was already preparing for the waves of whatever it was to come at her. Inuyasha didn't notice that she could see them and blocked their path. Ayumi looked away as her father was hit and blasted back. Kagome cried out for him, but Ayumi didn't hear her and instead looked down.

Somehow, Inuyasha's sword had slid out of its sheath and along the muddy ground to stop in front of her feet. Ayumi picked it up, not knowing exactly how to use it. It looked so old and so frail that it could break at any moment, but it didn't. She felt something in her move inside of it as it grew and became too heavy for her to lift fully. The Great King of Bandits was still laughing, making Ayumi hate him more and more until she picked up the sword and swung it at him.

He wasn't able to move away from it fast enough and got hit. His blood sprayed over the ground and hit her clothes, covering them in his blood. The jewel shard fell from his forehead and dropped to the ground as Ayumi staggered and used the sword to support her. She was becoming dizzier by the moment and soon dropped to her knees. Hands grabbed her tightly as Inuyasha's voice came in to her clouded mind. She couldn't understand what he was asking her as she slipped into unconsciousness, welcoming the feeling of an embrace.


End file.
